Messages

1

Astro Slide - Android / Re: Astro update to V07

« on: May 23, 2023, 01:48:06 pm »

Upgrade on a non rooted device.

Finally it seems that the keyboard is working properly and not losing focus.  I used to have to keep tapping the screen to type.  I use T-UI as my launcher so it was super annoying.

Fingerprint sensor still doesn't work with Bitwarden, Joplin and Keepass2Android.  I'm guessing it won't work with my banking apps too so its not going to take over as my daily driver. 

Place holder cheapo Moto is going to carry on with that role!

2

Gemini PDA - Android / 8.1 observations

« on: May 10, 2019, 05:58:17 am »

There are some nuances that come with Android 8.1 I find irritating like 'app x is using battery' nice idea but I want to be able to swipe it away rather than have to disable it.

How to disable this please?  So far I have gotten as far as swiping right and I can see cog but it disappears before I can do anything.

<EDIT>
Bleh my google fu failed me when I was looking into this yesterday.  I found an article about how to disable it.
</EDIT>

3

Gemini PDA - Android / Android 8.1 for the Gemini to be available later this week

« on: May 09, 2019, 04:13:36 am »

So I followed the following guide to update:

http://support.planetcom.co.uk/index.php/G...droid_8_Upgrade

After following the instructions to delete the existing ota.zip (which was 1.05GB) and then downloading one from the official link.  

When I went to manually update, the updater shows "New version found", but the rest of the info (PatchID, PatchSize, UpdateDate) is all blank.

This was the same as when my updater appeared to have hung.  I think what happened was the original OTA update finished downloading, but then popped up the screen to ask me to click "Firmware Update", but had blank info...

So this time I bit the bullet and clicked the button and the update kicked off.

I can report the same issues as suffered by others:

1. The boot screen starts half blank, but fixes it self (something to do with screen rotation maybe?)
2. I was only missing one app on my launcher.  I'm using T-UI so its a bit harder for me to see whats missing, but so far I was only missing Keepass2Android which fixed itself after a reboot.

The only continuing real issue I'm having is LINE Messenger just hangs.  I'm going to wait for an app update to see if that fixes it, but if not I'll reinstalling and restore as much as I can from backup.

So far I haven't really noticed anything different as I mostly use my Gemini as a "traditional PDA" rather then a full fledged phone.  

That battery usage notification is a bit annoying does anyone know how to turn it off?

<EDIT>
Soooo after using it for a while, the light theme (the right hand menu bar swapping from black to white depending what app) is doing my nut in.   I can't remember if it was in the previous version, but right now it's soooooooooo annoying.  

Some apps like YouTube and MX Player I can set the theme in the app itself, but in others I can't seem to change it.

From the Googles I think that there is no built in dark/light theme in Android 8.  Is this the case and does anyone have any suggestions of getting around it please?
</EDIT>

4

Gemini PDA - Android / Missing apps' names on the home screen under Oreo

« on: May 09, 2019, 04:02:57 am »

Now that I have updated to Oreo, the names of the apps in the home screen have disappeared, only their icons are shown. Since I can't recognize some of the apps solely by their icons, does anybody know how to put back all the apps' names under their relative icons?

Varti

I'm using T-UI so I can't see my icons, but Keepass2Android wasn't available as an app when I typed it in the cli.  It was still installed and I could run it from the Play Store.  I had to reboot and it then was available.

5

Gemini PDA - Android / Android 8.1 for the Gemini to be available later this week

« on: May 07, 2019, 08:27:15 am »

I'm still stuck at "PauseDownload", I'm now trying to reboot again, fingers crossed...

EDIT: Someone on Facebook has suggested (at your own risk!) to delete the Firmware Update app's cache to trigger again the download. I have tried it, but now the download is stuck at 69MB, anyway if anyone would like to try it too: go to Settings > Apps > dots menu (top right) Show System > find Firmware Update > Storage > Clear Data.

Varti

Thanks for this tip.  

After clearing data the update app no longer hangs and I'm able to access settings etc.  It now reports that there are no updates available, but at least it is reporting the current installed version!

6

Gemini PDA - Android / Android 8.1 for the Gemini to be available later this week

« on: May 07, 2019, 06:03:21 am »

My OTA update got to ~74MB until it stopped yesterday.  

Today the updater shows "New version found", but the rest of the info (PatchID, PatchSize, UpdateDate) is all blank.  

The GUI seems to have hung and even the settings button doesn't work.

Tried restarting the app and the device, but still the same.  Fingers crossed it fixes itself when they resolve the download server issues!

7

Gemini PDA - Linux / Automatic Headphone Audio Switching?

« on: September 28, 2018, 09:57:31 am »

Hmm thinking about it, is the speakers and headphone jack treated as a single output device with 2 ports?

I believe that the module-switch-on-connect will switch when another output device connects, you will need this to auto switch for a bluetooth headset (which is what I use it for).

If it is a single device with 2 ports then you might need:

module-switch-on-port-available

You can check if its already loaded with:

pacmd list-modules | grep switch

It was already part of my default.pa on Debian 9 on my lappy.

### EDIT

I had a quick Google and someone suggested checking that Auto-Mute is enabled in alsamixer:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/150887/soun...es-and-speakers

Open Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T)
Type: alsamixer and press Enter/Return
Select the correct sound device by pressing F6
Navigate to the right with → (Right Arrow key) until you highlight Auto-Mute
Press ↑ (Up Arrow key) and select Enabled (or Line Out)
Press Esc to exit

8

Gemini PDA - Linux / Automatic Headphone Audio Switching?

« on: September 27, 2018, 08:00:31 am »

I don't have Debs on my Gemini, but if it is PulseAudio switching outputs on connect you can try on the command line (as your session user):

pacmd load-module module-switch-on-connect

If that works then to make it load on boot hunt down the default.pa, normally at:

/etc/pulse/default.pa

and add:

load-module module-switch-on-connect

Also check if you have a user specific one:

~/.config/pulse/default.pa

9

Gemini PDA - Hardware / rubber strip

« on: September 13, 2018, 06:43:55 am »

Mine did the same thing. it's a matter of carefully pushing the little rubber nubs back into the holes whence they came. Long, term, I don't know. Mine came loose as a result of being in an overly tight leatherish case. I don't use that case anymore and have ordered a slightly larger canvas one.

I just received my case and hub *yay*, but trying to use the case has caused my a part of the rubber strip to bulge out a little.  I have to force myself to not pick at it and hope it goes back to normal.  I would advise people to pre-stretch the case with something else or not use it at all.

10

Gemini PDA - Android / Planet's Agenda app released

« on: July 07, 2018, 10:35:14 am »

Looks like you can't use it unless you sign in to Google…

No possibility of stand-alone use?  

I am signed in to Google for the Play store, but I don't sync my calendar/contacts etc via Google.  Most of it works fine with CardDAV-Sync and CalDAV-Sync to ownCloud.  Not using the tasks yet as that wants me to sync via the PC app.

11

Gemini PDA - Android / Which app you use on Gemini? Email, Calendar, File manager

« on: July 03, 2018, 03:36:17 pm »

So I use...

Gemini Calendar synced using CalDAV-Sync to ownCloud (contacts synced using CardDAV-Sync)

K9 for my throwaway non-Google accounts

Gmail for my Google throwaway accounts

My main email (personal and work) I SSH (using JuiceSSH) to my home server and use Mutt (with GnuPG, links2 and vim).

For task management I use Taskwarrior which I also access via SSH.

For file management I use Solid Explorer.

I think the most important and most used app for me is JuiceSSH as not only do I use that to access my main email and tasks, but I also use it to access my notes and I use it for remote management for work.

To secure it I only use SSH keys for auth, fwknop for SPA and Yubikey for MFA.  Still trying to figure out how to get Yubikey to only require auth for a period of time as currently it asks for each SSH session, which can be an absolute pain when copying files....

12

Gemini PDA - Android / Device encryption not supported?

« on: July 03, 2018, 12:14:18 pm »

PC have replied to my query with:

[!--quoteo(post=0:date=:name=Planet Computers)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Planet Computers)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]Dear <REDACTED>,

Full Disk Encryption is actually already supported on the Gemini, moreover it is enforced at first boot, so your device is already encrypted.

Best regards,
Planet Team[/quote]

13

Gemini PDA - Android / Device encryption not supported?

« on: June 28, 2018, 04:55:34 am »

I've emailed PC asking about Full Disk Encryption (FDE), but I'm still waiting on a reply.

Just in addition to Dr Watson's great post Diskinfo does confirm that the data partition is indeed encrypted:

, but does appear to support the second type.

As posted by Dr Watson the device is initially encrypted using default_password, but then is changed to whatever pin/password you set, and that is saved to the TEE chip.  MediaTek is indeed licenced to use Tustonic TEE:

https://www.trustonic.com/news/company/medi...on-environment/

But I can't actually find an actual statement saying that the x25/x27 SoCs have them, but I'm assuming they do since /data is encrypted.

I would much prefer to choose FDE where I type the password on boot.  Even if I lose the auto shutdown/startup capabilities...

*** UPDATE ***

I just rebooted my phone as I wanted to check if if the boot loader showed a colour as per:

https://source.android.com/security/trusty/

No colour was shown, but my phone asked me to enter a password on boot.

The sequence was:

1. The PC logo appears
2. It asks me for a password
3. The PC logo animation pops
4. It asks for my SIM PIN
5. The finally it asks for my login password

I tried this with both restarting and power off.

Now when I was setting up my phone for the first time, I first installed a SD card which I setup as adopted storage and I switched off later to add a SIM.  I'm pretty sure it didn't ask me to enter my password to boot (but I was really jet lagged so could of just entered it without realising).

14

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Battery conditioning?

« on: June 28, 2018, 04:12:06 am »

Yet some L-ion products advise to run a few cycles of full charge, full discharge, while I've seen it said elsewhere that allowing a full discharge is had for the battery.

When you get a new device you are advised to fully charge the batteries for the first time before turning on because I believe that it allows some of them to know how much battery charge is available (calibrating).  General rule of lithium batteries don't ever do a full charge cycle (as in fully discharge and charge to 100%).  Most devices are designed to not let you do that.

Does anyone know how best to deal with the Gemini to achieve best capacity/life from its battery?

 As mentioned earlier checkout the LTT video, or my personal fave resource http://batteryuniversity.com

Just keep in mind that:

1. Fully discharging/charging a  Li-ion will damage it.
2. Heat will damage it.

So I aim to charge before the battery goes below 40% and I try not to use it when it is charging.  In terms of overcharging I'm relying on the charging protection circuits to not let the battery get damaged.

Now due to the design of the Gemini (battery not being next to the hot components), I'm not so bothered if I am using it plugged in (like a laptop), but since the battery is huge compared to my day to day use I haven't been put in that position.

Basically I charge my Gemini at the end of the night unless it will go below 40%.  I've done the same thing with my Open Pandora since forever and I'm still on the first battery!

Also the battery is replaceable so that is a big thumbs up imho